These suggestions of Dawn Approach being ‘got at’ are laughable. It really was not too surprising that the horse reacted to the slow pace in the way he did.
This is a horse who won over sprint distances last season and is used to going flat-out or three-quarter speed from the off. Even in the 2000 Guineas, Dawn Approach sat quite handy and was not restrained. On Saturday, for the first time in his life, Dawn Approach was asked to race at half or one-third speed. It was a new experience and the horse could not understand it. Perhaps this is an issue that could have been corrected at home, but I am sure that it takes some time to recondition a horse to settle. Sea The Stars and New Approach couldn’t do it, but were a little more workable than Dawn Approach.
The same issue reoccurs at least 10 times per week in juvenile hurdles. Former milers and other flat-racers take time and bitter experience to understand that they need to conserve energy and settle.
Dawn Approach’s problem was made worse by Manning being forced to race wide. Perhaps if they were locked away on the inside, then the pulling would have been subdued a little.